Election Day 2024 is over. A chapter in the evolving history of this country.
Americans, the majority of the voting ones, have written the following.
They have stated they prefer this country be lead by a man found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman, who denigrates women because of their looks, who demeans them intellectually and praises them only when they show deference to him, rather than be lead by a woman. Again.
The electorate chose someone who praised white supremacists, expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler, demonstrated fondness for dictators like Russian President Vladimir Putin and once wondered allowed why the United States military could not be used to quell protests.
They like the guy who encouraged his followers to overwhelm the Capitol when he lost the 2020 election and expressed indifference to threats on the life of the man who was his vice-president. He champions the men and women who attempted to overthrow the government—attacking and beating police officers along the way— and has said he will pardon them when he is in office.
Americans voted overwhelmingly in favor of someone who has insulted immigrants, Latinos in particular, and accuses them not only of destroying communities but of invading the country to commit crimes and steal jobs. His closest advisor has called for massive deportation of immigrants because “America is for Americans.”
Our fellow Americans wanted this man in the highest office in the land—after he bungled his way through the first year of the pandemic that killed more than one million U.S. mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, children and friends—and now we have him. Again.
Americans chose a man who threatened to withhold aid from states in times of crisis because he considers them political enemies.
Locally, our municipal, statewide and district elections have begun to come into clearer focus. Soon we’ll know definitively who will be our representatives. But in the months and years ahead we will learn who will be the leaders that stand up for the rights of all people in the diverse cities like Chula Vista and National City. And we’ll also see who falls in line with the man who joked that he would be a dictator, but only on Day One.
